NFL Week 4 overreactions: Are Raiders fading to black?
NFL Week 4 overreactions: Are Raiders fading to black?:-The quarter mark of the NFL season is here, and many people are starting to see a pattern emerging in the early results.
But as Week 4 showed, so many unknowns about players and teams remain. Here are five overreactions we’re disputing after Sunday’s games:
The Raiders are no longer contenders in AFC
Consecutive defeats to the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos raise plenty of questions about 2-2 Oakland. One that doesn’t need to be asked, however, is whether the Raiders still boast one of the conference’s most talented rosters.
They do.
The problem is that the offensive line showed it’s vulnerable to top-level pass rushes. Washington and Denver both pressured quarterback Derek Carr relentlessly and combined for seven sacks. Most surprising was that both teams frequently only needed four rushers to do so. With receivers blanketed by the rest of the defense, the Raiders’ offense was defused.
Oakland combined for just 56 rushing yards on 28 attempts in those games. If Marshawn Lynch and the rest of the run game can force more defenders into the box, it should open up the passing game and should restore order to the offense.
Carr was found to have a transverse process fracture in his back, which is concerning, but the timeline for his recovery isn’t clear. Tony Romo missed just one game in 2014 with the same injury, so the diagnosis is far from a death knell.
Some major flaws have been exposed and the AFC West race is tight, but Oakland should be fine if the offense can make some fixes.
The Rams’ rise is merely a temporary boost provided by a new coach
Behind 31-year-old coach Sean McVay, the 3-1 Los Angeles Rams sent a statement with a 35-30 win over the Dallas Cowboys. The message? This team, which stands first in the NFC West, may emerge as a legitimate threat.
The sample size is small, but L.A. has the NFL’s top-scoring offense (35.5 points per game). Jared Goff has excelled at quarterback, silencing those who were quick to call him a bust after a rough rookie campaign. And running back Todd Gurley, who struggled through a down year last season, has re-emerged as a dangerous multi-purpose threat. Through four games, Gurley has 596 yards from scrimmage, has seven total touchdowns, and is averaging 4.2 yards per carry, compared to his mark of 3.2 after all of last season.
Though the Rams have given up 26.2 points per game (28th in the NFL), the defense could make substantial progress over the course of the season as it grows more comfortable with coordinator Wade Phillips’ new system.
Next week’s game against the Seattle Seahawks should provide a reliable indicator of where Los Angeles stands in the NFC landscape. A victory would not only further legitimize the Rams, put perhaps even put a target on their back.
Source:-https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/10/02/nfl-week-4-overreactions-oakland-raiders-buffalo-bills/724121001/
